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To the previous episode!

Part 6: Fire Wars

Let's continue our fight against the Firelord. Which means we're sending our most Avatar-shaped dungeoneer into the fray.

The objective of this level is to loot 3 chests, all of which are guarded by strong enemies. Which means we must make sure we're well-equipped, or else it'll bite us in the ass.
Putting a corridor to connect with one of these chest rooms is a bad idea at this point, so let's not do that. Instead, let's put it to the south and brace for another inevitably negative fountain effect.

Huh. What do you know. Reverse psychology works even on the RNG!

We also put an imp down there. Gotta earn those levels and loot after all.

The "majestic" imp wasn't a challenge at all. And more HP is always good.

Oh hey, looks like Embro noticed we're trespassing. Let's act like reasonable adults and completely ignore him while the looting continues.

Pretense levels critical, captain!

Mmm. Look at all those cards. But you know what? I don't think that's enough of them...

Still not there yet...

There we go. Literally every card in Terra's deck is on her hand right now. As soon as she plays one, it immediately returns to her hand.

Needless to say, the spider was carded to death. And as a reward, we get this cool hat.

Let's get a cool weapon to go with it.

Finally, let's tackle one of the guardian monsters! This one's level 2 but Terra doesn't seem terribly concerned, blinded by the visions of loot.

Try not to be scared at the sight of this spoooooky ghost, reader. It has a pretty nasty trait, though; Tenacious. As long as the ghost has more than 1 HP, it can't be brought down to under 1 HP. It's one of the most annoying traits when you're playing a damage-oriented character.

We only have cards that deal 1 damage each? This is the perfect situation to ignore the pain, use Intuition and draw more cards!

For example, this Fireblast. Though Fire Shield would be much better in this situation. Terra doesn't have the best luck for card draws tonight; hope it won't come to bite her in the ass.

The Death deck has some pretty nasty spells. Look at this Acrid Fog. Fortunately Sparks go right through magical defenses.

So does fending off the flying spirit by waving a stick at it.

That spooooky Swoop attack would give Terra a heart attack at this point. That's not going to happen. Zap the ghost with your proton beam!

One of the new items dropped - and look how good it is! This will come in handy against some enemies that have actual physical attacks. Like the zombie (OH NO SPOILERS).

Don't forget the loot from the chest, which drops another new, rare item! We're not taking the mage robe, though, but the glyph. It doesn't give Flamelash, but doesn't cause us to lose the Straitjacket and its +1 HP bonus.

How will Terra handle another ghost now that she has all this new equipment?

Effortlessly.

We should've taken the mage robe last time, and the glyph now. Oh well. 2 gold is 2 gold.

Okay, NOW we're taking the mage robe. It causes Terra to lose 1 HP, but look at the awesome spells we get thanks to the stacking abilities! Focus is especially nice.

Now, after the spooky ghost, it's time for an even spookier zombie! Which immediately belches a cloud of suspicious gas in Terra's direction.
Mind Strike won't deal any damage here, but it will give us a card. That's probably better than any of the alternatives at this point. Remember the zombie's Decay trait; that means we want to save cards with 2 power for when they can actually deal full damage, so it can be hurt even more by them.

Now, use Focus! +1 HP, and +1 damage to the next spell, AND 1 more card on hand? It gives you a huge advantage. Expect me to use this card a lot in the future updates. And yet, this is still not the best Arcane spell...

And now... it's time to burn.

See how much damage that zombie took in one turn? For those who don't feel like counting: 2+1 from Focused Fireblast, 1 from Headbutt, and 1 from Decay.

Thanks to some expert swordplay later (with a stick, but still), Terra defeats the zombie.
Terra: "I wouldn't mind receiving something that resembles a real weapon, though."

Well, how about this?
Terra: "...I hate you."

Don't forget the loot from the chest! We won't need the Skullcap anymore, since the Fire Elemental looks like a magic enemy to me. Look at those cool, cool spells the Sparkly Headband gives us at this point! Or maybe hot, hot spells, in Ignite's case.

Terra tries the diplomatic approach.

It doesn't work. Or maybe she just talked the enemy to death.

A tiny bit of boring offscreen grinding later (it was like 2 or 3 enemies, none of which dropped or did anything new), let's engage the last chest guardian and finish this.

The Fire Elemental is nasty. Its Burn ability, which deals 1 damage to everyone at the start of the round, is even more nasty. We'll have to do this quickly.
...Pity it drew a strong card, while our hand is pretty awful.

...Another strong card for the enemy. Let's hope we get Blinding Light next turn...

Crap. The enemy pulls another 2 damage card, while all of the awesome cards in our deck decided to hide at the bottom. At this rate-

NOOOOO

Another hero dead at last
Their future now is in the past
And all because their selfish pride
Was chasing fame and glory

Well, it was bound to happen eventually. One of our dungeoneers has died - not because of low level or bad gear (it was all level 2 items), but because the RNG just decided to screw us over. Sometimes it happens in this game. And when it does, it hits especially hard.
In retrospect, maybe I could've tried putting some level 3 enemies on the map, less nasty ones than the Fire Elemental, and level up on them. Something to consider for the future...

Looks like we have a new building, the Graveyard. Let's put it next to the Barracks, so Equi can take care of it.

Although this guild seems very drawn
A dungeoneer's life can sometimes be hard
Not always going as they might've planned
They mostly end up in this graveyard

Or maybe, when there are enough dead dungeoneers here, their spirits will come to haunt him. Only time will tell.
The epitaph is accurate, at elast.

Also...
???: "I heard you need someone with experience as a magus."